SURFSUPPAPA

Spencer’s little sign above my desk has been a favorite of visitors to our brewery as of late. There is fascination in and about and around this little piece of paper, which is taped above a miniature photo of my grandfather on my desk. Originally, my fascination derived from the simple connection of my boy and surfing, and his choosing to write something to me about it. Larger than that, it’s simply a very encouraging and hopeful phrase.

paperinkscissorstape (& grandpa)

With each successive acknowledgement to this ink and paper cutout, I find myself in awe and wonderment. This sensation, for me, distills down to just a few words.Odd, because it’s been up for quite some time already. Long enough for him to know how to use lower case letters and about the common practice of separating words from each other. Even so, only recently has it begun garnering attention of the type where people feel strongly enough to comment upon it.Small, only about an inch tall. Folks have been zeroing in on it amid the day-to-day mess on my desk and from the mass of my Trinkets That Stand For Something (AKA Family Clutter slash Historical Treasure). Like the little photo, for instance. Grandpa is in his pharmacy smock, with his amazing mustache, standing in front of a shelf of liquor! The story that goes with it is pretty good, too, as he ran the very first official state liquor store in Washington right out of his drugstore. The wooden flip-top desk under which it sits is my great-grandfathers’; a true relic.Funny, because I don’t surf.

I’m ok with calling this a discovery of a metaphysical phenomenon. Why? Well, as you’ll notice, the distilled words are in bold print. These are now known as the ‘Everything Is Connected’ adjectives that describe something else entirely that you are all familiar with, not just the darling little hand-made sign that Spencer created, pictured above. Can you guess what it is?! I’ll admit, this would be a perfect time for wiener jokes, but the other odd, small, and funny thing happens to be the brewery itself. And the insights that I can give myself about this coincidence reach far beyond what I am able to comprehend. This is where I’m at:

I’ll take chance over luck any day. Chance rewards those who are willing to take action in order to encourage change to work it’s magic. It doesn’t always, sometimes never, and rarely happens all the time. The more attentive I can be in this very moment (where, oddly, all the action takes place), the more I will be present to allow myself access to what is possible. Yes, this is a mantra! Just like a surfer waiting for a wave. The wave is but a very tiny part of something unfathomably huge, yet the energy present in the wave possesses all the power of the ocean. The surfer has no ability to control or direct this energy, but to simply gain pleasure from absorbing some of it. My other take away is that it’s entirely possible to take action by doing nothing. Well, maybe ‘actively waiting’ is better than ‘doing nothing’. The surfer will sit in the thing larger than the wave, witnessing the world and his part in it. Watching as potential opportunities appear and disappear. Waiting for the very reason of his actions up to this moment. And then we all know what happens…we watch in wonder for a while and occasionally he gets crushed.

The point for me is that I will gladly sit in this moment, part of my little Apothecary connected to family and life in ways I don’t understand or appreciate fully. Perhaps a bigger and better brewery is arriving on one of those waves in the distance. A few giants have already passed on by, but truthfully, there isn’t any hurry. I like it here.